Leave A Comment

“Stormwatch,” “Brightest Day” Artist Scott Clark Passes Away

Scott Clark, an artist who broke into superhero comics during the sales boom of the 1990s and worked for years in conjunction with Jim Lee’s WildStorm studio, passed away this week at 43.

The world broke via Clark’s Facebook page where fans have taken to posting art, remembrances and farewells and was picked up by Russ Burlingame at ComicBook.com.

A stalwart of superhero comics since he broke on the scene in the early ’90s, Clark was known to fans for his muscular riff on the detailed pinup brand of superhero art that dominated that decade. His earliest published work came at smaller direct market publishers like Innovation, but his breakout moment came in 1993 when as part of Jim Lee’s Homage Studios he was tapped as the regular penciler of Lee’s “StormWatch” series. Though his earliest efforts with the studio fit well into the mold of Lee’s style, like his contemporary Travest Charest he soon established hallmarks of his own style – an exaggerated and idiosyncratic riff on action hero archetypes.

Clark continued to work steadily through the boom and bust of the ’90s and continued to hone and shape his style to suit the needs of a given assignment. In recent years, he found success at DC Comics where his comics ranged from detailed painting work on “Justice League: Cry For Justice” to the bi-weekly hit “Brightest Day.” Since DC’s New 52 relaunch hit last year, Clark had returned to many of the characters associated with WildStorm including a long run on “Grifter,” a return to the “StormWatch” franchise and other work that stretched his artistic boundaries such as current issues of “I, Vampire.”

News of the artist’s death came as a surprise to many of his contemporaries with sadness and support offered by collaborators and friends including James Robinson, Colleen Doran and Cully Hamner. Their feelings were perhaps best summed up by “I, Vampire” scribe Joshua Fialkov who wrote, “Heartbroken over Scott Clark passing. Super sweet guy and a massive talent.”

The exact cause of death is unknown, though “Grifter” writer Frank Tieri noted on Twitter that Clark had been sick for some time while working on interiors for the series. Clark is survived by wife Kim and his son Andrew.